Burning Skies
by Ultra Rodimus
Summary: AU. A new threat surfaces and targets the Transformers. On a mission on Earth, Ultra Rodimus vanishes. Will he be found alive? Read and review! COMPLETE!
1. Sinister Plots

Author's Note: I've had this story running around in my twisted mind for weeks now, so I decided to finally write it. The idea originally came from ckret2, thank you so much, and then it took on a life of its own. The rating may go up in later chapters. 

Disclaimer: Ultra Rodimus, Jennifer Murdock, and her machine are all products of a seriously twisted mind. The other Autobots all belong to Hasbro. I take no credit for them.  
  


**Burning Skies**  
  


**Chapter 1: Sinister Plots**

Jennifer Murdock stood in the middle of her huge lab, watching as her cronies finished building her machine. A cruel smile touched her lips. Soon she would be ready. 

When she was younger, she had been caught in the crossfire during a major battle between the Autobots and Decepticons. Her siblings had been killed. A stray shot had nearly hit Jennifer. It had barely missed her, but it had hit her boyfriend. He'd lasted for three days in hospital before succumbing to his injuries. Jennifer had sworn to avenge him. She hated all robotic life-forms. Her machine would give her the power to take her revenge on their entire race. 

The machine had taken her years to design and perfect. It affected its victims on the molecular level, forcing their bodies to change form, into the form she chose for them. She intended to use it on any and every robot she could catch. 

"We're almost finished, ma'am," one of her companions announced. 

"Good." She smiled coldly. "I will have my vengeance!" 

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"Are you still at it?" 

Ultra Rodimus looked up in surprise. He hadn't heard him mate enter. Magnus was leaning on the wall, arms folded, watching him. 

"What?" 

"Still at work?" 

The young Prime indicated the piles of datapads on his desk, stacked so high he had to stand to look over them. A good number lay in the "out" box, but that was barely a dent in the total number. Ultra Rodimus had been sitting at his desk, working non-stop, for nearly three days. The reports were still pouring in. 

"Stupid question," Magnus agreed. ((You have to rest sometime,)) he told his mate in mindspeech. ((If you don't you'll burn yourself out. Even you can only take so much.)) 

Ultra Rodimus sighed. (I know, but I still have to get this done. I'm behind enough as it is. If I don't get this stuff done, eventually my desk will collapse under the weight.) 

((You're exhausted. Come to bed.)) 

(But...) 

((Do as he says,)) another voice chimed in, and Ultra Rodimus glared at the alien creature occupying his right forearm. Falcon was a skrill, and he'd attached himself to Ultra Rodimus during an unannounced trip through a dimensional breach. Primus had altered the skrill on the molecular level to allow it to survive attached to a robot. 

(Falcon!) 

((I have to live on your energy too, remember. You're running low. You need to rest.)) 

(Collaborator,) Ultra Rodimus muttered, but he obediently dropped the pad he'd been reading and rose from his chair, shutting off his computer. Magnus grinned and grabbed hold of his younger mate's long braid. 

"So, what're you doing tomorrow?" Magnus asked. 

"I have to go to the air force base to meet with the commanding officer." 

"About what?" 

"He didn't say." 

Magnus made a thoughtful sound, but didn't ask anything else. He led his mate to their shared quarters and pushed him into the bedroom. Ultra Rodimus's exhaustion was beginning to show, and he staggered as he crossed the room. Sandstorm, Ultra Rodimus's friend and aide, or, as some others liked to tease, his servant, sprang forward to brace the tall youth. Magnus caught Ultra Rodimus's arm. Between the two of them, Magnus and Sandstorm got Ultra Rodimus over to the bed. Ultra Rodimus collapsed bonelessly onto it, asleep before his head hit the pillow. 

Sandstorm rolled his eyes. Magnus shrugged and climbed onto the bed, curling around his mate. Ultra Rodimus didn't even twitch. Magnus sensed that he was deep in slumber. Falcon sent amusement and followed his host into sleep. Magnus wasn't far behind. Before he fell asleep, he privately hoped that there wouldn't be any huge problems on the horizon. They were overdue for a rest. But something deep inside him, something on the same level the humans called instinct, told him that the worst was yet to come.  
  


**To be continued...**

This was short, I know. I'll do my best to make the chapters longer. Send me reviews and I'll get more chapters out to you.


	2. The Tightening Web

Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed the first chapter. Here is the second chapter. I hope you like it. 

Disclaimer: I don't own the Transformers. I own Ultra Rodimus and Jennifer Murdock.  
  


**Burning Skies**  
  


**Chapter 2: The Tightening Web**

"...and we will need joint cooperation for security," General Mark Johnson finished, looking up at the young Prime. 

Ultra Rodimus tapped a finger against his chin. "I don't think so. There are enough hot-headed Autobots floating around to keep an optic on the station during construction. Once I let the news out, there'll be no shortage of volunteers. They'll all want to do it. It'll give them the chance to try and impress the femmes who just arrived from Cybertron." 

Mark chuckled. "Males trying to impress the ladies, huh?" 

"And thinking up all kinds of stupid stunts to pull in order to do it. You know what teenage human males are like. Young Autobot males are way too similar for my sanity." 

The human roared with laughter. Ultra Rodimus's lips twitched. He couldn't help smiling while the human laughed. 

"I am very glad that I lean the other way, and that I'm already partnered," Ultra Rodimus added. "I have the feeling that if I was still single, they'd be pulling even more stupid stunts trying to impress me." 

The human chortled. "I don't doubt it. You are a handsome bot, big guy." 

Ultra Rodimus mock-glared. "Can we get back on topic, please?" 

"Sorry. Where were we?" 

"We were discussing security for the joint space station," the Prime reminded him. 

The general looked thoughtful. "Your Autobots are more able to defend any space project. You can move about much easier in space, and you aren't bothered by the extreme cold. A single second of exposure to open space will kill a human. You Transformers can stay in open space for days. I think we should use the young males as guards." 

Ultra Rodimus made a note on his datapad. "That'll get them out of my hair. Like humans, Autobots can get spring fever, and some of the more hot-headed youngsters are in a permanent state of spring fever. They've been driving me crazy." 

"This will give them something to do, then." 

"Thank Primus." 

Falcon chuckled, and Ultra Rodimus swatted at the creature. 

"Talking again, is he?" 

"No. Laughing. He's as bad as Magnus is." 

((I resent that,)) Magnus growled. 

Ultra Rodimus shot him a mental raspberry, and got an indignant "Hmph" in response. He grinned and returned his attention to Mark. 

"So it's settled?" 

"It is." Mark rose to his feet. "It's been nice finally meeting you face to face." 

"Don't you mean face to shins?" Ultra Rodimus teased. 

"I'd hit you if it wouldn't hurt me more than you." 

The young Prime tapped his fingers against the side of his snakeskin boot before rising to his feet. He and the human exchanged farewells, then he walked out of the base and transformed. 

((Well?)) Magnus asked. ((What did you two decide?)) 

(He wants to collaborate on a joint project, a space station to be positioned just outside the solar system. We decided to use that latest batch of restless Autobot males as watchdogs during construction. It'll give them something to do and get them out of my hair before I lose it.) 

((A very good solution. You're on your way back?)) 

(Yes. I should be back in about twenty minutes, give or take.) 

Magnus sent him affection, then cut the link. Ultra Rodimus concentrated on navigating the winding roads. He hummed absently to himself as he drove. 

The road under him exploded. 

He let out a cry of alarm as the blast blew out his tires and scrapped his center axle. Pain shot through his circuits. Instinctively, he transformed, looking around for an enemy. When that enemy finally showed itself, it took on the last form he'd ever expected. 

Humans. 

There were about a dozen of them, armed with strange weapons. As he stared at them, shocked and confused, they took aim at him and fired again. Most of the shots bounced off of his snakeskin jacket. Several hit his armor, stinging but not doing any damage. He flinched back, unsure of what to do. He didn't want to hurt humans, but they seemed intent on hurting him. 

((Prime! What's going on?!)) 

(I'm under attack!) 

((By who? We're not reading any Decepticons!)) 

(Humans!) 

((Why would humans want to attack you?)) 

(I don't know!) 

Before he could say anything else, a well-aimed stun blast caught him in the eye, his weak spot. His systems became sluggish, and he swayed on his feet, dazed. Three more stun bolts hit home. The last one put him out completely. 

The shooter, a man codenamed Stinger, watched the giant robot stagger back a step, under the influence of the Transformer equivalent of a tranquilizer dart. He waited for the robot to fall onto its back. But the Autobot managed to pull out one last surprise. Off balance, it fell forward instead of backward. The humans scrambled madly to get out of its way. When it landed, one of their jeeps was crushed under its shoulder. Stinger swore and reached for his walkie-talkie. 

"We have one," he reported. "And not just any robot. We got the Autobot leader." 

"Excellent," his employer responded. "Bring him in." 

"That isn't possible. He's a good bit larger than any of the others. And he crushed one of our jeeps when he fell." 

"I'm on my way." 

Half an hour later, Jennifer smirked cruelly at the unconscious robot. Her henchmen were setting up portable versions of her machine around his prone form. She held the control device. 

"We're ready, ma'am," one of the men told her. 

She pressed a button on the device in her hand. The portable machines hummed as they began to work. The Autobot's form began to ripple and melt, shrinking in size. When the process had finished, a tall human male lay sprawled next to the flattened remains of a jeep. His breathing was rather shallow. 

"Get him into the car," she ordered. 

Two of her henchmen grabbed the Autobot by the arms and dragged him toward the vehicle, grunting in surprise at his weight. He was heavier than he looked. Finally, they got him into the car, binding his arms behind his back and throwing him roughly onto the floor. He landed in a boneless heap, his unbound silver hair spreading out into a silvery 'puddle' around him. Then Jennifer climbed into the car, looking down at the helpless Autobot at her feet. She would have fun with him.  
  


**To be continued...**

And here is chapter 2. Click on that review button and let me know what you think of this fic so far. If you do I'll get out the next chapter as fast as I can!


	3. Torment

Author's Note: Thank you to all my readers for sending nice reviews. Here is the third chapter. In this chapter the rating will be changed. As you read the chapter you will see why.

Disclaimer: Ultra Rodimus, Jennifer Murdock, and the general are all my characters. Everyone else, with a few exceptions, but even I'm not sure who those exceptions are yet, belongs to Hasbro.

**Burning Skies**

**Chapter 3: Torment**

First Aid seemed to frown at the screen of the med sensor he was holding. He'd been running scans on Ultra Magnus for the past ten minutes, trying to find a reason for the city commander's sudden collapse. Magnus had been fine, looking a bit distant, which was normal when he was communicating with his mate through their lifebond, when something had happened. His expression had changed to pure panic. Then he'd let out a scream loud enough to wake the dead and collapsed in a motionless heap. No one had any idea why.

"Anything?" Springer asked, pushing away from the wall he'd been leaning against.

The Protectobot medic shook his head. "I can't find anything that could cause him to collapse like that."

"Has anyone heard anything from Ultra Rodimus?" Jazz spoke up.

Everyone looked at him, confused.

"They're lifebonded, right? So whatever affects one affects both. Perhaps the problem isn't Magnus. Maybe it's coming from the other end of the link."

Everyone looked thoughtful. That had never occurred to them. But it did make sense.

"He hasn't returned from meeting General Johnson yet," Kup told Jazz.

"If something bad enough to put Magnus into shock happened to him, he may not be coming back anytime soon," Jazz announced.

"We have to send someone out to find him!"

"But who? Anyone we send might fall victim to whatever happened to Ultra Rodimus."

"I know just the person." Jazz headed for the wall-mounted comm panel. "Blurr, would you come down to Medbay, please?"

Moments later, the doors opened to admit a streak of blue and silver as the fastest Cybertronian alive zipped in, skidding to a neat halt in front of Jazz.

"I'mherewhatdoyouwantmetodowhatwhatwhat???" the speedy bot asked, almost too fast for them to understand.

"Whatever caused Magnus to collapse came through the lifebond from Ultra Rodimus. We need to find Prime. Any one of us, if we went out to look, might fall victim to whatever it was that hit Ultra Rodimus. You're fast enough to dodge anything that tries to shoot at you. I want you to go and see if you can find any trace of Ultra Rodimus. Keep moving as fast as you safely can. Once you've looked everywhere along the routes Ultra Rodimus might have taken to and from the air force base, return and make your report. Got it?"

"YesyesyesIgotitandI'mgoingtogoanddoitrightnow!" Blurr whipped around and disappeared, moving almost too fast to see. The doors barely opened fast enough to let him out.

The others watched him go. They hadn't thought of Blurr, but his speed was precisely what was needed to find their missing leader without losing another Autobot.

A deep groan from behind them made them all jump. Then they turned around to see Magnus trying to push himself up to a sitting position on the table. First Aid grabbed his shoulder and helped.

"Roddy!" Magnus's head swung around blindly.

"Magnus!" Kup snapped his fingers in Magnus's face, and the larger bot blinked until he could focus on the old bot's face. "What happened?"

"He was on his way back from the base when...when he was attacked."

"Attacked? Attacked by what? There were no Decepticons anywhere near here!"

"Not Decepticons. Humans. Humans with strange weapons."

"Humans were shooting at him?"

"Yeah. He and I were communicating when one of the humans hit him with something, and he blacked out."

"He was knocked unconscious? How is that possible? Even Galvatron's strongest blasts only bounce off his armor! How could a human knock him out cold?!"

"There is a way," Sandstorm spoke up for the first time. All eyes turned toward the pacifist, who was leaning against the wall. Sandstorm's eyes were serious. "A stun bolt through the eye socket. His eyes have no armor, and all of the circuits are close to the surface. Plus, it's a direct path to his brain. Why do you think his battle helmet has a visor? If a Decepticon shoots him in the eye it would be fatal. His eyes are his one weak spot. It takes a skilled marksman to hit him there, especially when he's moving, but it can be done."

"So what do we do now?" Sideswipe asked.

"First we wait for Blurr's report. Then we figure out what to do next."

Blurr was back in less than twenty minutes. He raced down to Medbay to give his report.

"Did you find anything?" Smokescreen asked.

"IdidIdidIdid!"

"What did you find?"

"Onthemainroutefromthebasetoheretherearethesignsofastruggle!"

"A struggle?!"

"Footprintsandtiremarksandacarthathadbeencrushedflatbysomethingheavyfallingonit!"

"A crushed vehicle? That must be where Ultra Rodimus went down. Did you see anyone nearby?"

"Therewasnooneanywherenearthesite!"

"Then we'll send out a team to see what they can find that might tell us what happened to Prime."

With a clearer idea of what to do, the Autobots scattered. Only Magnus remained. First Aid wanted to keep him for observation, and so he would know if anything else happened to Ultra Rodimus.

Sounds assaulted his ears, and blurs of color and light swam before his eyes. Ultra Rodimus groaned and tried to get his bearings. The last thing he remembered was a stun bolt in the eye, and hearing his mate's scream as he collapsed into darkness. Wondering what had possessed those humans to shoot at him, he tried to sit up.

The first thing he noticed was the fact that he was restrained. Metal bands held his arms and legs to the sides of the hard table he was lying on. Another band crossed his chest, holding him still. He tugged at the restraints, but they were solid, and he was too weak to fight them for long.

He opened his eyes again, blinking furiously until the blurs of color and light settled into focus, and he could see his surroundings. What he saw left a cold knot in his stomach.

Somehow, he was human again. How, he had no idea. His snakeskin jacket and silk-like shirt were gone, leaving his upper body bare, but his pants and boots were untouched. Probably because his boots were hard to remove at all, and impossible if you didn't know the trick to it.

He was strapped to a tilted table, hard steel bands holding him in place, in a room that looked uneasily like a lab. Bare wires were looped around his wrists and neck, and one ran down into his pants, toward a very sensitive part of male human anatomy. The wires were connected to a device that looked uncomfortably like a switchboard. Small sensor pads like the ones used in hospitals had been applied to his chest and forehead. Nearby was a wheeled table, and on its surface was an array of scalpels, needles, drug vials, and objects he couldn't identify. None of them made him feel any better.

"So you're awake."

His eyes fixed on the speaker, a human woman dressed in silk and a lab coat. She was watching him with a cruel sneer on her face.

"Who are you?" he growled.

"Don't you remember?"

"Why should I? I've never seen you before."

Her eyes flashed. "Years ago, during a battle with the Decepticons, laser fire killed my family and my boyfriend. You should remember that!"

He frowned. "How could I remember that? I wasn't even on Earth back then."

She glared, her eyes flashing with hatred. "You are one of those murderous machines, and all of you will pay for what happened to my family!"

"I had nothing to do with that!" he roared at her. "Let me go!"

She reached for the switchboard and flicked a switch. Electric current coursed through the wires and into his body. He let out an ear-shattering scream of agony as the electricity burned him from the inside out.

Finally, she shut off the current. He hung limp in the restraints, head hanging, his body twitching and convulsing from the powerful shock. His breath came in harsh bursts.

"I will not let you go," she announced coldly. "I will kill you, and you will die a slow, painful death for what your kind have done to me."

With that, she turned and left, leaving him alone.

**To be continued...**

I guess you can tell that I was in a bit of a bad mood when I started planning this fic, and it kinda took on a life of its own. And you can see why I'm upping the rating on this fic. Do you think I should up it to PG-13 or all the way up to R? Review and let me know what you think. And here are some reviewer responses:

**Foxey:** Glad to know you're still alive. And I seem to have a gift for making the bad guys really creepy. You should read the review ckret2 sent me for the second chapter of Transformation. Hope you continue to read my fics, and hope to hear from you again soon!

**Gromia: **Is this update fast enough? And as for Circuit Breaker, I only read one fic with her in it and that was a long time ago, so I don't know a thing about her, but I'll take your word for it.

**LoneGenesis: **Thank you for reviewing my story, and I hope you send me many more juicy reviews.

**Simply Crisis: **Yeah, trouble is brewing, and it's gonna be bad for all of the Autobots. Hope you continue to send me reviews.

Thank you to all of me reviewers. I love you all!


	4. Rage

Author's Note: I have upped the rating of this fic to PG-13. If you think I should raise it any higher, tell me in your reviews. Feedback is welcomed, but flames will be used to roast critics, so you'll keep them to yourself if you know what's good for you. 

Disclaimer: Ultra Rodimus, General Mark Johnson, and Jennifer Murdoch (I finally got her last name spelled correctly!) Are all mine, as is the police chief introduced in this chapter. All other Transformers and the Witwickys belong to Hasbro. But one of the Witwickys will die in the course of this story, just so you know.   
  


**Burning Skies**   
  


**Chapter 4: Rage**

A terrible scream erupted from the treatment room where First Aid was keeping Magnus. Everyone in hearing distance jumped and ran to find out what was going on. They crowded into the room and froze in horror. 

Magnus lay on his back on the med table, but he was no longer still. He was convulsing violently, his limbs flailing with horrible violence. It was obvious that he had no control over his movements. Something was causing him to go into seizures. His optics were flickering madly. The table was threatening to collapse under the constantly shifting weight and the powerful blows. 

"What is going on?!" Kup yelled. 

Before he even finished the sentence, Magnus gave one last vicious convulsion, his back arcing up off the table nearly ten feet. One of his two antennae snapped off and rolled away. Then he collapsed and lay utterly still. 

"What in the Inferno was that?!" Springer demanded. 

Jason O'Connor, the chief of police from the nearby city, stared at the motionless robot, his lips compressed into a thin line. "That was the classic reaction to a powerful electric shock. That bot was being electrocuted. But how? There are no wires or anything attached to him." 

"It's not happening to Magnus," First Aid explained. "It's happening to Ultra Rodimus. They share a link that connects them mind to mind, a link so powerful they are literally one creature with two personalities. They think, react, and dream as one. What affects one affects the other. Ultra Rodimus is being tortured. Magnus is a mirror of what's happening to Ultra Rodimus. That's why we need your help. We have to find Ultra Rodimus and whoever is doing this to him. If we don't find him soon he may be tortured to death. And that would make things even worse." 

Chief O'Connor frowned at him. "How could it get any worse than this?" 

"Because of the nature of the link they share, the death of one has a catastrophic effect on the other." 

"That's an understatement," Kup said gravely. "This is a fully-fledged lifebond. The consequences are even more severe than you think, F.A. No one has ever survived a broken lifebond." 

"No one? What happens?" Everyone looked concerned. 

"When the lifebond breaks, it snaps back on the surviving half of the bond, like a broken elastic snapping back. We call it backlash. If the backlash isn't immediately fatal, it damages the survivor's mind. The survivor is unable to function normally. It's as if half of their soul dies with their mate. They are unable to recover. It's a wound that can never be healed. The survivor eventually commits suicide. It can happen at any time. Some bots I've known to have lost their lifemates killed themselves minutes or seconds after their mates died, if the backlash alone didn't kill them at the same moment their mates were killed. Others lasted weeks before killing themselves, always in terrible pain, the broken link leaving terrible scars. Killing themselves was the only way out." 

There was complete silence as the assembled Autobots and humans assimilated that. Then Chief O'Connor headed out to start a search for the young Prime. First Aid hooked Magnus up to the monitors to keep an optic on his vital signs, looking for any changes. 

"And what will happen if Ultra Rodimus should die before we find him?" Jazz had to ask. 

"Watch Magnus. If Ultra Rodimus dies, it's likely that Magnus will simply cease to function, following his mate into death without any warning. His body will simply shut down. On the other hand, he might suddenly come around, screaming like a damned soul, tear out of the city, and self-destruct. He might do what one bot did, a very long time ago, after he lost his mate. He went on a mission of vengeance, butchering everyone who stood in his way until he found his mate's murderers. Then he self-destructed, killing himself and every single one of them. He left a trail of death that ran across half the planet before he died. May Primus help us if Magnus goes the same way." 

First Aid prepared a selection of powerful sedatives, pitting them where he would be able to reach them if he had to use them. 

"That won't help if he loses it," Kup told him. "That bot I mentioned, who hunted down his mate's killers, was so full of drugs even more powerful than those that he should have been a vegetable hooked up to every life-support system in existence. But when he felt his mate's death he woke up and went out on a mission of revenge. Drugs and all. If Magnus goes the same way, we won't be able to stop him." 

"Sowhatdowedo?" Blurr asked. 

"Wait and hope we find Ultra Rodimus alive." 

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Ultra Rodimus was barely aware of anything. Sounds were fuzzed and now they had colors. Ever since he'd recovered a bit from that electric shock, people in lab coats had been pumping him full of drugs. He had so many different drugs in his system that he could no longer tell what was real and what wasn't. Reality and fantasy had merged together and both were filling his hazed mind. He could distantly feel pain, knew that he should be in agony, but somehow he wasn't. 

Someone stopped in front of him, and he raised his head a bit, trying to focus on who it was. It was impossible for him to figure out who it was. Not even Falcon's attempts to clear his head were helping. 

Strange swirls of light and color invaded his vision, everything stretched and warped. The figure's head floated about a foot above the body, looking down at him with a cruel smile on its lips. 

"I can see that you are just barely holding onto some manner of awareness," the head announced coldly, each word emerging from its mouth in flowing script and encapsulated inside a brightly-colored bubble. "You are a very interesting specimen. I knew you would be amusing. You are providing a great deal of amusement for me. It's almost worth keeping you alive a while longer." 

The woman's head floated around the room for a moment, then suddenly produced a new body as the old one faded away. A large, furry body, of an eye-searing pink. Ultra Rodimus shuddered as the fur turned into spines, like those of a hedgehog. Then she shook the body, and all of those spines shot forward, piercing Ultra Rodimus's limbs with excruciating pain. The machines grew tentacles, and the walls opened up into pulsating starscapes. 

Another figure moved into his visual range. It also was a floating head. Its head faced forward, but its body was reversed, walking backward toward its destination. With every step it took, bleeding wounds appeared in the floor, and it felt to Ultra Rodimus as if the wounds were to his flesh. 

The woman walked around the table and touched the skrill on his arm. Falcon's surge of alarm sent a jolt through Ultra Rodimus, and his head cleared. The world settled back into recognizable order. He recognized the woman as being the person who'd captured him and was torturing him. He glared at her, his eyes blazing with fury. 

She smirked, running her fingers over Falcon's back. "So you're rational again. I'm not really surprised. This is quite an unusual creature." 

"Leave him alone," Ultra Rodimus snarled. 

"So it's a he, is it?" She reached for a scalpel and brushed it lightly over the skrill's front right tentacle. Falcon hissed at her. "A very interesting creature. Especially if its connection to you means that hurting it hurts you as well." She cut. 

Falcon let out a sound resembling a scream. It was drowned out by the shriek of pain Ultra Rodimus let loose. Then he began swearing in every language he knew, which was quite a few. He ran through every human language he'd ever learned, including some that were extinct. Then he switched to modern Autobot, circulated through several obscure and ancient Cybertronian dialects, and then ran through more than a hundred alien languages. The entire recitation took nearly an hour. Jennifer listened in amazement. She hadn't been aware that he knew that many languages. She hadn't known that many languages even existed. 

One of her brutish bodyguards stormed over to the bound Autobot and stuck a finger in his face. "You watch your language! You are in the presence of a lady!" 

Ultra Rodimus's eyes nearly crossed as he regarded the offending finger. Then, as fast as lightning, he snapped at it, his teeth closing solidly on the annoying digit, digging deep. He clamped his jaws shut as hard as he could, twisting his head at the same time, and yanked. The thug creamed in agony as his finger was torn off. Ultra Rodimus turned his head and spat out the severed digit. His blazing eyes fixed on the human woman who'd tortured him and his skrill. She actually recoiled from the look in his eyes. 

"You can't keep me here forever," he snarled. "I will get out. And when I do there will be hell to pay." 

She regarded him coldly, then gestured to another of her bodyguards. He picked up a heavy steel bar, hefted it, then smashed it across Ultra Rodimus's legs. He screamed at the top of his lungs, hearing his own bones shatter. Excruciating pain roared through his body, and he knew the bones weren't just broken. They were crushed. 

"Prepare him for the special treatment," Jennifer ordered. Then she turned and walked away. The "medics" closed in on him.   
  


**To be continued...**

If you think I should up the rating from PG-13 to R, tell me now. It's gonna get worse. I can be pretty bloody-minded when I want to be, but this story seems to have brought out the best in me. And now, my reviewer responses: 

**Gromia: **I know I made Jennifer creepy and scary, but she's supposed to be that way. And yes, you sound kinda impatient. But I'm used to it. My family are experts at impatience. I'm no exception. You should see some of the reviews I send to other authors to get them to update stories they've left hanging for Primus knows how long. I update fast. 


	5. Escape

Author's Note: Would someone please explain to me why reviews are appearing on and not in my inbox?! I haven't gotten any new mail in 2 days, and my reviews are appearing on long before they ever reach my inbox. Can someone please tell me why?! My email used to be nice and fast. Now it's so slow, and I don't know what's wrong! If anyone can tell me, somehow, please do! 

Pardon my freaking out. This thing with my email started yesterday, and I have no idea what's causing it or what to do about it. It's really frustrating and alarming when you have to check to find out if you have any new reviews instead of finding them in your email inbox. Help! 

Disclaimer: You know the drill.   
  


**Burning Skies**   
  


**Chapter 5: Escape**

It had been nearly two weeks since Ultra Rodimus had gone missing. Magnus had spent all of that time in Madbay. After the first few really severe reactions to whatever was happening to his mate, Magnus had gone into a coma. First Aid had tried everything he could think of to bring him out of it, but nothing had worked. Magnus lay completely still, not reacting to anything. 

"This makes no sense!" the medic exploded. 

"He's concentrating on the link," Kup explained. "Sending his energy to Ultra Rodimus." 

First Aid gave him a strange look. "What good will that do?" 

"If he can send enough strength, he might be able to help Ultra Rodimus free himself." 

"Oh." 

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Ultra Rodimus could barely lift his head. He was very weak. Drugs were running rampant through his systems. "Surgeons" had been at him for the last five days, cutting into his body, removing chunks of muscle and tissue. Probes had been jammed deep into his flesh. His skin had been sliced and peeled back from his innards. Parts of his scalp had been peeled away from his skull. The bone had been cut open, and bits of machinery were being stuck to his brain. Falcon was broadcasting his pain. His tentacles had been cut off and yanked out, he'd been cut open, and he was being used as an alien guinea pig. Both of them were in bad shape. 

Jennifer sauntered up to him, a cruel smirk on her face. "You've provided a great deal of entertainment during your stay, but now it is time for you to be a nice robot and die!" 

The young Prime's eyes went wide. With terrified strength he jerked against his restraints, and one came loose. He threw his weight against it, and it finally came off. Jennifer jumped as the strap holding his right arm snapped off and fell to the floor. 

Wires and sensors and probes jerked out of Falcon's body as he fought his way out of the restraints. Alarms began to scream. He howled in agony as he landed on legs that had been brutally broken days before. But the pain was forced to the back of his mind, pushed there by the overwhelming desire to survive. 

One of the thugs Jennifer used as guards charged him. Instinctively he brought up his skrill arm. Falcon, spurred on by the cruelty that had been done to him, unleashed a devastating blast. The thug let out a terrible, high-pitched scream an instant before he was vaporized. A piece of the wall went with him. 

"Kill him!" Jennifer ordered. "Don't let him escape!" 

The other thugs ran toward him, lifting guns, knives, and metal bars. He saw them coming and turned his skrill arm toward them. One shot took out four and a half of them, and the others decided to stay back. Another shot demolished the wall, creating an escape route. As fast as his severely mauled legs could take him, Ultra Rodimus headed for freedom. 

Jennifer watched him go, cursing in the most foul language she knew. She'd been so close to getting her vengeance! 

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 

Jesse Maxwell was driving home with his wife and daughter when he saw someone staggering toward the road, moving in a straight line from a complex built out of sight of the road. Jesse thought the stranger would stop, but he didn't, and Jesse had to slam on the brakes to avoid running over the stranger. Once stopped, he parked the car and climbed out. Angry, he stormed toward the stranger. 

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Jesse raged at him. "Are you trying to kill someone?! I have a family in that car! Watch where you're going!" 

The stranger looked at him, and Jesse felt all of his anger drain away. It was replaced by utter horror. 

Blood ran down the stranger's face and body, staining his torn clothes. His skin was hanging in strips, cut away by a sharp blade. Open wounds all over his body left muscle and even bone exposed. The setting sun glinted in glassy green eyes, and shone dully off an exposed curve of skull. Then Jesse realized that the greyish lump on top of the man's head was his brain, the skull cut away, leaving it exposed. From the way the man was walking, or rather, limping, both of his legs were broken. He was forcing himself to keep going despite the agony he must be in. There was a growth or something on his right arm, but it looked as if it belonged there. It was as badly hurt as the man was. 

"My God!" Jesse took the man's nearest arm. "Linda!" 

His wife emerged from the car and walked over to them. "What is it? Who is that-- oh my lord!" 

"We have to get him to a hospital," Jesse decided, half-carrying the strange man toward the car, noticing the tattered ends of wires sticking out of his skin. The edges of the cuts were too neat to have been simply torn open. They'd been cut open. 

"Who...?" the stranger rasped. 

"My name is Jesse. Jesse Maxwell." 

"Where...?" 

"Somewhere on the road into the city. We're going to take you to a hospital." 

"Not...hospital...Metroplex..." 

"The Autobot city?" 

"Have to...get...there..." 

Jesse's young daughter, Terri, leaned out the car window. "Look at his ears. Humans don't have pointed ears. And his eyes have slit pupils. He's not human. I think we should get him to Metroplex. They have the facilities to treat nonhumans." 

"Good point. Terri, get in the front with us." 

She climbed into the front seat. Jesse opened the back door and lifted the stranger in, grunting in surprise at his weight. Once the man was lying on his side on the back seat, Jesse got into the driver's seat and turned toward Metroplex, driving as fast as he could. Halfway there, they picked up a police car. The car followed, its sirens screaming. Jesse glanced at it in the mirror, but didn't slow down despite the fact that he was going at over 130 kilometers per hour. 

"Dear..." Linda said. 

"He needs medical attention now, or he may die!" 

She gazed at him, worried. Then she nodded and looked out the windshield. Metroplex's towers had appeared over the trees, the alien metal they were made of seeming to glow in the light of the setting sun. 

The car shot through the gates of the city and skidded to a halt, its brakes screeching. Startled Autobots emerged from the city to see what was going on, staring at the car and at the swarm of police cars hot on its tail. They were still staring when Jesse bolted out of the car. 

"Get help! We have a severely injured man in the back seat!" 

Several Autobots disappeared into the city. Minutes later, a medical team ran out, pulling a stretcher along with them. The policemen stared in surprise as they carefully lifted the man out of the car. 

First Aid, who'd appeared to supervise the moving of the patient, caught a glimpse of the man's face and froze in shock. 

_It can't be!_

"He's been tortured severely, and he's not human. He's also got something on his arm." Jesse lifted the man's right arm to reveal the suffering creature on it, and First Aid let out a cry of shock. Jesse frowned up at him. "Do you know him?" 

"I've never actually seen him in this form, but yes, I know him." First Aid looked like he was about to faint. "He's our Prime. That's Ultra Rodimus."   
  


**To be continued...**

Five chapters in, and more to come. Send me reviews, and the next chapters will appear as fast as I can get them typed. And if anyone can tell me what's wrong with my email, I will be very grateful. And now, my reviewer responses: 

**Simply Crisis: **Yes, trouble is coming. And they're getting very deep into it. Keep reading to ind out what happens next! 

**LoneGenesis:** I'm updating, I'm updating! Hold your horses! I'm updating as fast as I can! 


	6. Discovery

Author's Note: Thank you to all of my wonderful reviewers for sending me your responses. And thank some of you for your concern about Roddy. And on that note, here is the next chapter! 

Disclaimer: You get the idea.   
  


**Burning Skies**   
  


**Chapter 6: Discovery**

"Let me get this straight," Jesse Maxwell said, looking up at Springer. "That man I brought in is your leader, Ultra Rodimus. He was somehow captured, turned human, tortured, managed to escape, and ran into me." 

Springer nodded. "That's right." 

"But how could a bot his size and strength be captured by a human?" 

"Sandstorm says it was probably a stun blast through his eye that brought him down. As to how he was turned human, we don't have a clue." 

The three humans and nearly a dozen Autobots were waiting outside the emergency room, waiting for a doctor to come out and tell them the status of their Prime. The waiting area wasn't large enough for all of Metroplex's population to fit in, but everyone who couldn't enter was listening over their internal comlinks for any news. But, from the severity of Ultra Rodimus's injuries, they would be there for a while. 

"Where did you find him?" Jazz asked. 

"Since we won't be hearing anything for a while yet, why don't I show you?" 

Nearly three dozen Autobots followed Jesse out to where he'd found the humanized Autobot leader. A swarm of police cars, the ones that had persued Jesse and his family into Metroplex, tagged along. They might be needed. 

Finally, Jesse stopped his car and climbed out. "I found him here. He ran out onto the road, and I just missed hitting him. He was coming from there." Jesse pointed toward the hills. "Just behind those hills is a research complex. Ultra Rodimus was coming this way, away from the complex." 

"He was running?" Sideswipe repeated. "On two broken legs?" 

"People who have been tortured will accept any pain to escape their tormentors," Jesse explained, an old pain in his voice. The Autobots knew that he had undergone something horrible in the past, but none of them dared ask about it. 

"You're sure he was coming from that complex?" Smokescreen asked instead. 

"He was coming from it, all right. He was running in a straight line, this way." Jesse pointed with one hand, tracing Ultra Rodimus's path. He'd been moving in a straight line from the complex toward Metroplex. 

"Then we'd better start there," Topspin decided. 

The Autobots left Jesse with his car and swarmed toward the complex, escorted by the police. Jesse leaned on his car and watched them, knowing that all he could do was keep out of their way, no matter how much he wanted to help. He'd gotten their leader to safety, and for that they were eternally grateful. 

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 

"Lady Jennifer!" 

Jennifer turned to glare at the trembling man. "What do you want? You'd better have a good reason for disturbing me. My prisoner escaped!" 

"And a swarm of Autobots just rounded the hills, heading right for us!" 

She froze, staring at him. Then she swore and rounded on her other employees. 

"Get out of here! We can't let them find us!" 

There was an immediate scramble for the hidden escape tunnels. She was the first one through. One of her thugs waited until everyone had made it into the tunnel, then closed the hatch. 

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 

****"There's the complex!" Tailgate yelled. 

"Shall we knock?" Camshaft whooped. 

"Cool your circuits, Camshaft," Hot Spot cut in. "This is a human installation. We have to let the cops go in first." 

"We can take some of the smaller Autobots in with us," one of the cops offered. 

"I'll go!" Goldbug volunteered immediately. 

"Me too!" Cliffjumper added. 

Blaster's cassettes also wanted in on it. Hot Spot gave them the go-ahead. The six of them sped up to ran alongside the police cars. 

When the police burst into the complex, they met with no resistance. One of them opened the huge cargo doors so the other Autobots could enter. 

"I hate this place already," Backstreet muttered. 

"I found something!" Silverbolt yelled from outside. Jazz went out to see what he'd found. 

Silverbolt was kneeling next to c hole in the complex's outside wall when Jazz found him. The Aerialbot leader looked up, waving for Jazz to join him. 

"This edge looks familiar," Silverbolt commented, pointing at it. 

Jazz grunted. "That's 'cause it's blast damage from Ultra Rodimus's skrill. You know what Falcon can do when someone hurts his host. I'd say that this is how Ultra Rodimus got out, and it's proof that he was here." 

Springer poked his head outside to judge the location of the burned hole. Then he walked over to the inside was, produced his huge broadsword, and proceeded to cut the wall apart. The other Autobots watched. When he finished, they helped haul out the wall, then looked inside the next room. 

"Sweet Primus!" 

"This must be where they tortured him," Springer noted, his voice cold with rage. 

In the middle of the room was a table, tilted back from the vertical, with heavy steel restraints at arm and leg level. Another one, at chest-height, lay half broken. Bluish blood stained the restraints, the table, and the floor under it. Wheeled table held a large array of surgical tools, mostly scalpels, also covered with bluish blood. Broken electrical wires lay on the floor. Clear glass jars held pieces of bone and tissue. One held one of Falcon's tentacles. 

"I'd say this is definitely where they tortured him," Jazz agreed. 

"What's this?" Lightspeed pointed at a neat pile of machinery and a small device. 

"I don't know. Package it and take it to Perceptor." 

The Technobot nodded and carefully packed the machinery into a crate. He put it in subspace for transport back to Metroplex. 

Finally, they'd collected everything. The cops had collected evidence, and were taking it back to their headquarters to be turned over to their crime scene investigators. The Autobots met up with Jesse and returned to Metroplex. 

Perceptor took charge of the equipment they'd brought back, glad to finally have something to do. The rest headed for Medbay. 

"Any news?" Jesse asked his wife. 

Linda shook her head. "Not a word. But it looked bad." 

"Then we'll wait until we hear something," Jesse decided, sitting down beside her. 

Almost an hour and a half later, they heard a grunt and looked up as the door to one of Medbay's other sections opened. Magnus, trailing monitor cables and sensors, staggering on wobbly legs, blinking like someone who's just woken up, staggered out. He blundered into the wall. Hot Spot reached out to grab his arm and hold him up. 

"Magnus! Are you all right?" 

"Where is he...?" Magnus looked around, blinking to clear his eyes. 

"You shouldn't be out," First Aid scolded. "You just woke out of a coma. You should be resting." 

"Have to see him..." 

"He's in surgery right now, Magnus. You can't see him now." 

"Surgery?" Magnus looked at the Protectobot medic, his gaze asking why First Aid wasn't with Ultra Rodimus if he was in surgery. 

"I'm not in with him because something turned him human. I won't fit in the operating room. They've been working on him for four hours straight, and I suspect they'll be operating on him for a long while yet. So you get some rest." 

The confused, exhausted robot allowed First Aid to lead him back into the other section and settle him back onto his bed. Once Magnus had fallen into an exhausted sleep, First Aid rejoined the group. 

Three hours later, Spike Witwicky and his father, Sparkplug, arrived. Spike carried some blankets. He draped one over Jesse's daughter Terri, who'd fallen asleep on one of the couched provided for them to sit on. Linda nodded her thanks. Spike smiled at her. 

An hour later, another team of surgeons arrived. They were rested and fresh. A few minutes after they entered the operating room, the first group emerged, almost dead on their feet. Most of them left quickly, eager to get some rest, but one doctor paused and looked up at the waiting Autobots. Their optics begged for any news. 

"It's not good," he told them. "I'm surprised he's lasted this long. His condition is extremely critical." 

There was a wave of soft muttering. It died as quickly as it had started. 

"Both legs are broken, the bones crushed, he's showing signs of repeated exposure to a powerful electric current, his skull has been cut open, his brain has been damaged. He's lost a hell of a lot of blood, and one of his lungs was cut out. He's on full life support right now." The surgeon shook his head. "It's a miracle that he's still alive. By all rights he should be dead, but he's clinging to life with a strength I've never seen before." 

"Is there any chance he might recover?" Chief O'Connor asked. 

"If he survives the night, it's possible." 

"Then we will pray that he does."   
  


**To be continued...**

Whew! Six chapters down, and not even I know how many are left. This story has taken on a life of its own. Here are my reviewer responses for the last chapter: 

**Rose:** Thank you for your compliments. I always did write fics my own way, even when other people tried to tell me not to. 

**Gromia:** Okay, okay! I'm updating already! Hold your horses! Did this chapter answer your question? 

**LoneGenesis:** Yes, she has serious issues. Her family died quickly, but her boyfriend lingered for three days in the hospital, dying in incredible pain. That's the main reason why she's the way she is. 

There is chapter six for you. Send me reviews, and chapter seven will be out ASAP! ****   
  



	7. Awakening

Author's Note: In this chapter Ultra Rodimus gains a new ability. Thank you to my reviewers for expressing concern for Ultra Rodimus. And you should be able to work out the answer. Ultra Rodimus and Magnus are lifebonded. The death of one will kill the other. What's your opinion? 

Disclaimer: The usual disclaimers apply.   
  


**Burning Skies**   
  


**Chapter 7: Awakening**

For hours teams of surgeons worked to stabilize the young Prime. A group of Autobots and humans camped out in the waiting area, feeding news to the rest of the army. They waited on every word from the surgeons. 

Finally, nearly three days after Ultra Rodimus had been brought back to the city, the head surgeon came out to talk to the Autobots. 

"Well?" Downshift asked, worry in his voice. 

"It was close." The surgeon ran his hands through his short hair. "We had to attach a metal plate to his skull, and call in the world's most experienced brain surgeon to deal with the brain damage. We're still repairing his legs. The bones have to be pieced together where possible, and the rest will be replaced with metal rods. He lost a lot of blood, and that is proving very difficult to get around. We don't have a supply of his blood in stock. We had to give him neutral plasma and hope for the best. He'll probably have scars on his chest from the incisions. Falcon will forever be missing a tentacle, and he will have scars. There are gaps between the muscles of Ultra Rodimus's arms and legs. His one remaining lung is working well, but we put out feelers, looking for a transplant that his body might accept." 

"I don't think you have to worry about his body rejecting it," First Aid cut in. "His body adapts any new parts to fit in. I've repaired him using parts from a dozen different bots, and every new part is adjusted to fit in perfectly. It has something to do with his immune system. The same thing works with viruses. Instead of them altering his cells, his immune system attacks them and turns them into something useful." 

"Good. Then any transplant will be accepted. He's also recovering well from being exposed to electric currents." 

Another doctor raced through the door, waving an envelope. "We got the results of his bloodwork back!" 

The head surgeon grabbed the envelope, opened it, and began reading the contents. "My god! He's got more drugs loose in his system than I thought possible!" He turned and raced back into the OR. 

Kup looked at Jazz. "Who did this to him?" 

The black and white Autobot shrugged. "We don't know. We didn't find anyone at the complex." 

"So whoever it was is still loose out there." 

"Unfortunately." 

"Then we'd better start a search." 

"For what?" Chief O'Connor asked, looking up. "We don't know who did it or why. We have nothing to give us any clues about who it was. We're gonna have to wait for Ultra Rodimus to wake up so that he can tell us what happened." 

"That may take a while." 

"I understand that, but it's all we can do." 

The door opened, allowing Perceptor to enter. 

"Did you find out anything about that piece of equipment Lightspeed brought back?" 

"I learned a great deal about it," the scientist informed them. "It is a most fascinating piece of equipment. It affects the molecules of the target's body, forcing them to take on a new shape. It is meant to shift chosen targets from one shape into another. That must be how Ultra Rodimus was turned human." 

"Can you reverse the effects?"Air Raid asked. 

"Unfortunately, no. The machine was sabotaged, rendering it useless. I do not know if I can repair it. Without the builder's notes, I can do nothing." 

The Autobots made a low sound, a grumble of disappointment. Perceptor apologized and returned to his lab. 

"Will Ultra Rodimus be all right?" Terri asked. 

Jesse hugged his daughter. "The doctors are doing everything they can, but he was very badly hurt." 

"How is Magnus?" Linda asked. 

"Holding his own. The lifebond between him and Ultra Rodimus is what's holding Ultra Rodimus here. If it wasn't for the lifebond he would already have died." 

The medics didn't reappear for another several hours. They looked tired, but happy. 

"He's been stabilized, and his condition has been downgraded to serious," one reported. "He's not completely out of danger, but it's likely that he will recover." 

"How is he right now?" Groove asked. 

"We purged the drugs from his system, and gave him an anesthetic to keep him under. The drugs we got rid of were a nasty mix of dangerous and illegal drugs, with a few narcotics thrown in. We got rid of them all. Can Autobots become addicted to anything?" 

"Not that we know of." 

"Good. There was a dangerous level of what looks like cocaine in his blood. But it looked like the levels were a lot higher. I'd say his body has been fighting the drugs, and managed to get rid of at least half of them on its own. He's a real fighter." 

"Of course." 

"Can I see him?" Spike asked. 

"Can we?" Terri jumped in. 

"You may see him for a short time." 

The six humans, Jesse, Linda, Terri, Spike, Sparkplug, and Carly, entered the room and approached the bed. Lying there was Ultra Rodimus, hooked up to every life-support machine Metroplex had, and even a few he hadn't had. His golden skin was pale, more a dull yellow, and his silvery hair looked faded. An IV had been stuck into the back of his left hand. Other tubes ran into his shoulders. An air tube stuck out of his nose. Bandages were wrapped around his chest and arms. Both legs were in casts. Falcon was bandaged, but whimpers still emerged from underneath the wrappings. 

"He looks so fragile," Carly whispered. 

"I never thought I'd see him looking so helpless," Spike agreed. 

Terri looked at the arrangement of the tubes. "Why aren't there any tubes in his right arm?" she asked. 

"Because that's his skrill arm. The doctors don't want to hurt Falcon any more than he already is." 

"Falcon? That thing on his arm?" 

"That's Falcon. It's a living creature, a sentient life-form. He met Falcon during a sudden shift of dimensions. He was thrown into another universe. There, he met Falcon. Falcon's kind were taken from their homeworld and bio-engineered to become weapons. They draw nutrients from their hosts. Ultra Rodimus and Falcon are partners." 

Terri peered under the bandages at the creature. "It looks strange." 

"It resembles a mutant scorpion, but without a tail. It has eight tentacles that it inserts into it's host's forearm. Whoever tortured them cut off one of its tentacles. Falcon can fire a blast of energy powerful enough to disintegrate its target." 

The teenager nodded, then reached out to pat Ultra Rodimus's hand. "I hope you get better," she whispered to him. 

His hand twitched. Terri froze. 

"What is it?" Spike asked. 

"He moved. I felt his hand move." 

"Impossible. He's unconscious." 

Ultra Rodimus's hand twitched again. Terri gently lifted it. Slowly, his hand closed around hers. She looked at his face, and saw his eyelids twitch. He was trying to open his eyes. After several minutes of trying, he finally managed to lift one eyelid slightly. An emerald eye gleamed faintly, trying to focus on her. 

"He's waking up!" Carly leaned over. 

The Autobot Prime's eye opened a little further, enough to focus on their faces. He recognized Carly, but regarded Terri with suspicion. 

"I won't hurt you," she told him. "You're in Metroplex's Medbay. You're safe now." 

"Her name is Terri Maxwell," Spike explained. "Her father brought you back here. Just relax." 

Ultra Rodimus blinked, trying to stay awake, but he was too tired. He closed his eye and let sleep steal over him. 

Terri patted his hand. He squeezed her fingers gently before falling into a deep sleep. She laid his hand back down and stepped back. 

The doctor poked his head in. "I'll have to ask you to leave now." 

The others obediently filed out. 

"He woke up for a few minutes," Linda told the doctor. "He opened one eye to look at us." 

"He's really fighting the drugs. It's not surprising." 

"At least we know he'll recover," Sparkplug said. 

"That's a good thing. But he will recover."   
  


**To be continued...**

And there is another chapter. I hope you like it. Ultra Rodimus woke up for a few minutes. That's a good sign. Here are my reviewer responses: 

**Rose: **Yes, Ultra Rodimus will live. But there will be problems. You'll have to continue reading to find out what those problems are. 

**Gromia: **Yes, ouchies is right. Wounds like those tend to hurt like all hell. I've had cracked bones, none really broken, but cracked, and I know how much that hurts. 

That's it for this chapter. If you want more, send me reviews and I'll get right to you! 


	8. Answers

Author's Note: Thank you to all of my readers for your feedback. To answer your question, Gromia, no, Ultra Rodimus doesn't stay human. If you want to know how he gets back to his own shape, you'll have to read and find out!

Disclaimer: See previous chapters.

**Burning Skies**

**Chapter 8: Answers**

It had been a week since Ultra Rodimus had been brought back to Metroplex, and he was feeling better. Not great, but better. He wasn't allowed to get up and walk yet, but he could sit up, and he could feed himself. Because he'd had plenty of experience at being human or humanoid, he was used to it. He didn't like it, but it was necessary.

First Aid had finally decided that Ultra Rodimus was well enough to answer questions, and had had him moved to a room large enough to accommodate Autobots. He was sitting up in bed, propped up by a large pile of pillows, glaring at the casts immobilizing his legs. Half a dozen Autobots were sitting around him.

"What happened that day?" Jazz asked.

Ultra Rodimus frowned thoughtfully. "I was on my way back from meeting with the general at the base. Roughly halfway from there to here, the road under me exploded. Some kind of mine is my guess. I was thrown off the road by the force of the blast. In mid-throw I transformed. That's when the shooting started."

"Who was shooting at you?"

"Humans. There were about a dozen of them, maybe more. They carried strange weapons, weapons of a make I've never seen before. They were firing stun bolts at me. Most of the shots were bouncing off my armor. Then one got me in the eye. My vision is _still _fuzzy on that side. I was hit there more than once, judging from what little I remember. Finally, I'd been hit enough times in the eye to put me out cold. I don't remember anything else until I woke up in what looked like a lab."

"And what happened in there?" Kup pressed. The cop next to him flipped open a notebook, and the rest of them leaned forward.

Ultra Rodimus's eyes turned cold and hard. In a flat, emotionless voice, he related everything that had been done to him, even giving them the names of some of the drugs that had been used on him. Several times during the recitation, one or more of the cops had to excuse themselves to go and be sick. The ones who didn't leave were more than a little green around the gills before he was halfway through. He included any names he could remember, and matched them to faces wherever possible.

It took him more than four hours to tell the entire tale, from his capture to his escape. The listening cops and most of the Autobots had to admit that they would never have made it that far if it had been them in his place. They doubted they would have survived even a single night under that kind of torture.

"You're a lot stronger than any of us, even in this form," one of the cops told him. "Any normal person, or any normal Autobot, would not have survived an hour. You lasted almost two weeks."

Ultra Rodimus growled. "How soon will I be back in my own body?" He looked expectantly at Perceptor.

The scientist shook his head. "The devices Lightspeed brought back were sabotaged, and ruined beyond repair. I cannot even begin to try and decipher them. They are a complete mystery to me. I am sorry."

The young Prime groaned and leaned back against the pillows. "In other words, I'm stuck like this."

"For the moment."

"This reeks!" Ultra Rodimus snarled, letting his age show through for one of his rare outbursts. "I'm not a human! I'm an Autobot! I don't want to be stuck like this!"

The other Autobots watched in silence. He deserved to have temper outbreaks after all that he had gone through, and finding out that he had no way of getting back into his real form. They didn't blame him for being in a bad mood.

Ultra Rodimus leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest, his eyes blazing with impotent anger. He wanted to be doing something, or getting back into his own body. He didn't want to be human. He wasn't human. Ignoring everyone else in the room, he wished silently to be back as himself.

A sudden spike of pain shot through his chest, and his body blurred abruptly. For a long moment, his skin was smoke-grey, patterned with stripes, and clearly metallic. Then it returned to being normal human skin, and the sudden pain faded away.

"What in Primus's name was _that?_" he yelped.

Perceptor leaned over. "Fascinating. It appeared as if your body was beginning to morph back into your real form. Perhaps if you concentrate hard on being Cybertronian, you will change back."

Ultra Rodimus chewed his lip thoughtfully. "First Aid?"

"I don't recommend that you try it in this condition," the medic said instantly. "We don't know what might happen."

"I'm going to try anyway. Have a painkiller ready."

Reluctantly, First Aid pulled out a hypospray. He held it at the ready while Ultra Rodimus closed his eyes and concentrated.

The change began immediately. Unfortunately, so did the pain. Ultra Rodimus gritted his teeth and did his best to ignore it. He felt his skin become metal, felt his bones stretch. His body expanded outward, flesh becoming complex circuitry, thin skin becoming a hard armor shell. He could hear his own skeletal structure creaking. His heartbeats seemed to double as his two "hearts", necessary to provide fuel to all parts of someone his size, reformed and began to work.

The change was over with fairly quickly. Ultra Rodimus doubled over, holding his midsection, panting in pain. First Aid's arm shot out, pressing the hypo against his neck. There was a faint his as the painkiller entered his system, and then the pain began to fade.

First Aid pulled out his scanner and ran it slowly over the trembling Prime's body. All of his injuries were still there. But now First Aid could repair them.

Perceptor looked excited. "I theorize that because of the many times you've shifted back and forth between forms during the courses of several dimensional jumps..."

"His body got sick of the change being forced onto it and decided to do it on its own," Magnus interrupted from the doorway. "I'll bet that the change goes both ways. He can probably shift back and forth to human at will. But we'll test that once he's back at one hundred percent."

"And not before," Ultra Rodimus agreed. "That hurt like hell. And I think I'm gonna sleep for a week.."

First Aid called for one of the antigrav units used for moving patients. Medic Alert brought it and helped lift the tall youth onto it.

"Just one moment," Chief O'Connor called before the medics could take Ultra Rodimus away. "Ultra Rodimus, you described a young woman as being the brains behind your capture. Did you catch her name? Did she say why she was torturing you?"

"Her name was Jennifer," Ultra Rodimus said slowly. "Jennifer Murdoch. She was doing it for revenge. Her family was caught in the crossfire during a battle about twenty or more years ago. Her immediate family died instantly. Her boyfriend lasted three days in hospital. She vowed to get revenge for her murdered family, and she would use her machines on every robot of both factions she could catch."

The police chief wrote down the name. "We'll start a search for her as soon as we get back to the station."

"Somehow I doubt you'll catch her. She's smart. Smart enough to have planned this for years. You won't find her. But she'll find us. We haven't seen the last of her," Ultra Rodimus warned.

"We'll see about that."

Jennifer Murdoch was furious. She was standing in the middle of the command center of her secondary base. Already she was planning to regain control of the Autobot leader, and this time he wouldn't escape.

"My lady, we are almost ready," one of her employees told her.

"Good." Her smile would have frozen space if space hadn't been already frozen. The man crept away, radiating fear.

Her cruel eyes fixed on one of the spy photos she'd acquired from various sources. Those pictures had allowed her to plan her first strike. The one she was currently studying was of Sparkplug, Spike, Carly, and their baby, Daniel.

Her cold smile widened. The Autobots would be on guard now. But she had a new plan. She would use something the young Prime cared for to force his hand. He would surrender to her... or he would suffer the consequences.

**To be continued...**

Don't worry, it doesn't end here! I'm intending to write this one so that there won't be a sequel; I have barely enough ideas for this one. So it will go right to the end. If you want to read the whole thing, keep sending me reviews and I'll get the chapters out as soon as I get them typed. And now, some reviewer responses:

**Rose:** Don't worry, she gets what's coming to her, just not in the way you might think. You know hot bloody-minded I can be, so I bet you can guess what's coming. But no more hints! If you want to know how it ends, keep on reading!

**Gromia: **Does this answer your question? He's back to normal without the device. Keep reading and reviewing to find out how this story ends!


	9. Return

Author's Note: Sorry for the delay! I was a little busy. I apologize for the annoyance. And thanx to all my readers for promising to keep following this story! Also, I apologize if this chapter is shorter than the others. My idea tank is running low, but I'm doing my best! 

Disclaimer: See previous chapters.   
  


**Burning Skies**   
  


**Chapter 9: Return**

For weeks after the escape of Ultra Rodimus, Jennifer Murdoch had been refining her newest plan to bring down the Autobot leader. Her plans were about to be finalized. 

"The best time to strike is when he is alone," her advisor told her. 

She glared at him. "I will not wait any longer. Besides, the Autobots don't leave him alone. They even post guards outside his chambers at night. There is no use in waiting." 

"Our stun rifles will bring him down. They did so successfully the first time he was captured," the man pointed out. 

"You are more of a fool than I thought," she snarled at him. "The rifles will not work. They are wise to that trick, and now he wears an armored visor over his eyes everytime he leaves the city. His eyes were his one weakness. This time he is ready. We will strike from a different angle this time." Her eyes fixed on the monitor. 

The man followed her gaze. "What do the Witwickys have to do with this?" 

Her smile was chilling. "He cares for them a great deal. We will use them to force him to do what we want him to do." 

Everyone in the room with her shuddered and exchanged horrified glances. They all thought she was insane. Her first plan had been barbaric enough, but now she was planning to drag innocent humans into the crossfire. 

"They are not innocent!" she screamed in rage, her eyes blazing with fury and hate. "They are collaborators! They work with the filthy machines!" 

"That doesn't justify dragging them into your insane scheme!" one of the scientists yelled. 

She lunged at one of her bodyguards and grabbed the gun from his belt. Without any hesitation, she brought the weapon up, clicked off the safety, and fired. The back of the scientist's head exploded, spraying blood, bits of skull, and brain matter everywhere. The body collapsed in a head, blood spurting from the massive hole in its head. 

Jennifer's eyes were those of a reptile, cold and merciless. "Does anyone else have anything to say?" she demanded coldly, looking at each one in turn. They immediately returned to whatever they had been doing. 

She blew smoke from the barrel of the gun and handed it back to her bodyguard. "Clean up that mess," she ordered, and several others scrambled to obey. She ignored them, turning back to the screen. 

"The targets are in position," one of her operatives reported. 

"Proceed," she commanded. 

"Yes, my lady." 

Her cold smile widened, and she began to laugh. It was not a nice sound. It gaze everyone who heard it the willies. 

_Soon, you will pay for what your filthy kind have done to me._

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 

Sparkplug Witwicky was walking his daughter-in-law and his grandson out of the city, toward the parking lot where she'd parked her car. The Autobots were more than willing to drive her anywhere she needed or wanted to go, but she insisted that every one of them was needed in the search for the human who had tortured and nearly killed their leader. So she'd bought her own car and drove it to and from the city. 

"I'll take Danny to the babysitter, then go and pick up the groceries," Carly was saying. "After that I'll-- who is that?" 

Startled and alarmed, Sparkplug looked up. Standing right in front of them was a man dressed in strangely-colored camouflage clothing. His face was hidden behind a mask, and dark glassed hid his eyes. He carried a strange weapon, and was pointing it right at them. 

"Let's just back up slowly until we're back inside the city," Sparkplug whispered. 

Carly nodded. She held her baby close, her face pale with fear. They began backing away slowly. For a moment, Sparkplug actually believed they would make it. 

He was wrong. 

Suddenly, they were grabbed from behind. Carly screamed and struggled. Her purse went flying, and her jacket was torn off. But it didn't help. The brute behind her pulled out a rag that reeked of chloroform and pressed it over her nose and mouth. She was forced to breathe the stuff. Her eyes rolled back. Then she passed out. The crying baby was ripped from her arms. 

Sparkplug let out a bellow of fury. He was getting old, but he wasn't helpless, and years of hanging around the Autobots had taught him more than a few things about self-defense. He lashed out with hands and feet, striking at whoever he could reach. One of the men let out a loud "oof" as the wind was driven out of him. Another went sprawling face-first of the metal, bleeding from a split lip. Sparkplug was about to move on the next man when something cold and sharp was pressed against his neck. He instantly recognized it as a knife, and went completely still. The chloroform-soaked rag was pressed over his face until he too passed out. 

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 

"We have them, my lady." 

Jennifer's eyes glittered with triumph. "Good. Bring our guests here." 

"At once, my lady." 

_Soon. It won't be much longer. Then you will fall!_

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 

Ultra Rodimus was in the middle of a discussion with several Autobots and the chiefs of several different police forces. The topic of discussion was, of course, Jennifer Murdoch. They were well into the discussion when the door opened and Spike, winded and very pale, ran in. Ultra Rodimus immediately turned to him. 

"What's wrong?" the young Prime demanded. 

"My father, Carly, and Danny have been kidnapped!"   
  


**To be continued...**

How's that for a cliffhanger, huh? Wanna read more? Then you know what to do! Keep sending me reviews! And now, the reviewer responses: 

**LoneGenesis:** Yes, he's alive. If you wanna know what happens, keep on reading. This chapter sets up the future chapters, but I'm sure you can guess what's starting. 

**Rose: **Don't drop dead on me, please. I'm updating as fast as humanly possible. The trick is getting my sister to relinquish the computer for any real length of time. And the suspense in this chapter only gets worse. Aren't I evil? 

**Gromia: **Sweet Primus, you're reviewing nearly as fast as I'm updating. How on Earth do you manage that? Are you watching this fic for updates 24-7? Or do you have something set up that tells you when I've updated? How do you do it? Yes, Ultra Roddy can shapeshift, but only from Transformer to human and back. Keep reading and find out how this story ends! 

Until next time! 


	10. Confrontation

Author's Note: Yay! 21 reviews! That's the most reviews I've ever gotten for a fic! And I'm happy to welcome a new reviewer to the fold. Welcome, Kakwat! Thank you for reading and liking this story!

Disclaimer: See previous chapters (and previous stories) for details. Thank you.

**Burning Skies**

**Chapter 10: Confrontation**

"What do you mean she's gone?!" Jazz burst out, erupting from his seat and leaning over the table to stare down at the human.

"Couldn't she have simply driven away?" Smokescreen asked reasonably.

In answer, Spike held out a battered purse and a shredded jacket, both recognizable as belonging to Carly Witwicky. Everyone stared at them.

"Her car is still in the parking lot. These were found nearby, next to a smear of blood," Spike announced, voice rough. "Tailspin told me that he heard something, but by the time he got there, everyone was gone."

Ultra Rodimus reached for his comlink and summoned Tailspin. Once the scout arrived, the interrogation began.

"What did you hear?" Magnus asked.

"I heard yelling, and then a scream," Tailspin reported. "I headed for the source of the scream, but when I was halfway there I heard tires screeching. By the time I arrived, there was no one there and no sign of who they might have been. My opinion is that Sparkplug, Carly, and Daniel have been kidnapped."

"We'll start a search for them," one of the police chiefs told Spike, snapping his notebook shut.

Another chief looked up at Ultra Rodimus. "What are the odds that this Jennifer Murdoch isn't behind this?"

"Almost zero. She hates us, and now she's furious that I escaped." Ultra Rodimus steepled his fingers, resting his fingertips against the bridge of his nose. "She'll do anything to hurt me. Including use my friends against me. Wherever Sparkplug, Carly, and Daniel are, they are in terrible danger."

"We have to find them!" Spike insisted.

"We will do everything we can. But it's likely that we may not find them until Jennifer wants to confront me. If that's the case, all we can do is wait."

Spike looked ready to explode. He knew that Ultra Rodimus was right, but he hated the thought of leaving his family in the grip of a psychopath. With a growl, he turned and left.

"We'd better get started," one of the cops said.

"If the blood smear is large enough, we should all take a sample and see what DNA can tell us," another added. "It might increase our chances of finding them."

"Then let's get to it!"

The Autobots watched the humans scatter, then exchanged glances.

"What are we going to do?" Springer asked.

"There isn't much we can do. We have no idea where they're being held, and even if we did, going after them might put them in even more danger," Scattershot pointed out. "Right now, they're relatively safe. But if this mad woman thinks we're getting to close to her, she may kill them just to spite us. We have to leave this up to the humans for now."

"And it's me she really wants," Ultra Rodimus interrupted, and startled faces turned in his direction. He leaned back in his chair, gazing at them with serious eyes. "Think about it. Her desire for vengeance covered all of us in general. Then I escaped from her. Now she's obsessed with getting her hands on me again. I'm her primary target. Once she's killed me, then she'll return her attention to everyone else. Right now, I'm in the most danger."

"Good point."

"Don't forget that there will be a press conference later to discuss what is really going on between us and the police," Jazz reminded him. "We've been putting it off for the last few days. They won't take no for an answer. It'll be today no matter what we do."

Ultra Rodimus rolled his eyes. "It had to come out sometime."

Carly awoke to darkness. She rubbed her eyes, trying to clear them, but it didn't help. The room was dark. She felt around, and her hands touched the blanket Daniel had been wrapped in. The baby was unconscious. Carly lifted him and cradled him in her arms.

"Sparkplug?" she called softly.

"I'm here," he answered from somewhere to her left. "How are you feeling?"

"Not so good. Where are we?"

"I don't know. I only woke up a few minutes ago. But I don't like the look of things. I think we were kidnapped by that woman who's after Ultra Rodimus."

"Very perceptive," a new voice, a woman's voice, interrupted, and both jumped. The door opened and the overhead light came on. Carly cried out in surprise and pain at the sudden brightness. When she could see again, a tall woman stood before them, watching them coldly.

"What do you want with us?" Sparkplug demanded.

"You are mere pawns. I intend to use you for a very specific purpose. If you behave, you may live. Resist and I will kill you without hesitation. Understand?"

Both glared at her.

"Your glares don't mean anything to me. Men! Tie them up and blindfold them. We have a conference to attend."

Several men entered the cell. Some were carrying ropes and blindfolds. Others aimed guns at the trio. Both held very still. Daniel was yanked out of his mother's arms, and her arms were tied behind her back. Then both of them were blindfolded and led out of the cell.

"...and it is the danger that this madwoman represents that made us decide to join forces with the local police," Ultra Rodimus concluded, looking straight at the numerous TV cameras. "We are doing everything in our power to find her and free the hostages before they get hurt. We do not want to create a panic, which is the reason we were keeping this operation low-key. But it would be easier if certain elements of the civilian population would stop sticking their noses into places they aren't welcome." The young Prime shot a significant look at the reporters.

"And how close are you to finding and capturing this woman?" one of the reporters asked.

"Not very. She is very intelligent, intelligent enough to capture me and change my physical appearance at the molecular level. We have no idea where she is at this time, but we are searching for her hideout. Which is far easier if the media would get out from underfoot and let us work," he added pointedly. "You are getting in the way."

When the conference ended, the reporters began heading for their vans, grumbling about his attitude. Ultra Rodimus watched them go.

"And how are we going to begin?" Blaster asked.

"How about by looking in your own backyard?" a cold, taunting voice called.

Ultra Rodimus's eyes blazed green, and he spun around with a roar, searching for the source of that hated voice. Within seconds he had zeroed in on Jennifer. But before he could take more than a single step toward her, she raised a gun, and a group of her henchmen surrounded her. With them were the captive Witwickys.

Jennifer pointed her gun straight at them, and then smirked up at the furious Autobot. He stopped in his tracks, snarling, his eyes blazing with rage. The reporters, smelling a story, had regrouped at a safe distance, their cameras on and their footage on national television. The entire nation, and most of the world was watching.

"Now, now, now," she taunted Ultra Rodimus. "Hold your temper. If you're not careful, you might get them killed." She removed the safety, and placed her finger on the trigger.

"What do you want?" Ultra Rodimus snarled, his hands flexing.

She sneered. "I want you. And if you want these disgusting collaborators to live, you're going to do exactly what I say."

**To be continued...**

Now it's starting to heat up again. The fun isn't over yet. You know what to do if you want to see more chapters, don't you? That's right! Review! And here are some reviewer responses:

**Kakwat: **Jennifer is fixated on getting revenge for her family. She thinks of nothing else. And Magnus has to get past Ultra Rodimus if he wants to get his hands on her. Ultra Rodimus has dibs. And, unfortunately, Falcon is a completely made up character. He's a skrill, an idea taken from Earth: Final Conflict. Sorry!

**Gromia: **So that's how you do it. I'd been wondering. Anyway, keep reading and keep reviewing. Within the next couple of chapters, Jennifer is gonna get what's coming to her.

Until the next chapter!


	11. Lethal Rage

Author's Note: **WARNING! WARNING! CHARACTER DEATH! **There. You have been warned. If you dare, read on. If not, you know what the "back" button is for.

Disclaimer: You get the idea.

**Burning Skies**

**Chapter 11: Lethal Rage**

All eyes were fixed on the tall woman pointing a gun at her three hostages. The lenses of a dozen television cameras were fixed on the scene. No one was moving.

Several dozen cops fanned out, trying to get the woman into their sights, but a dozen or so bodyguards, all carrying powerful rifles and shotguns, surrounded her. The cops could only watch and hope that nothing happened.

Magnus swayed on his feet, struggling against the overwhelming tide of rage his mate was broadcasting. Ultra Rodimus was focussed completely on his enemy, teeth bared, his entire body trembling as he fought the impulse to pounce on the human. His hands were flexing, tightening into fists and then relaxing, as if he wanted to snatch her up and crush her like an insect. Magnus knew that the ideas presenting themselves in Ultra Rodimus's mind were even worse. Ultra Rodimus could be completely bloody-minded when he wanted to be.

"Why aren't you doing anything?!" Spike screamed at Jazz, pounding on the Autobot's leg. "Save them!"

Jazz looked down. "There's nothing we can do right now, Spike. If we move that madwoman will kill them. All we can do is wait and watch."

Spike let out a furious howl and whipped away from Jazz. He was heading straight for Jennifer when Springer snatched him up.

"Don't do anything stupid!"

"Put me down!"

Jennifer ignored him. Her eyes were fixed on the towering Prime. She noted the raw fury in his eyes, the barely-restrained murderous rage. His breath was coming in harsh blasts, so hot she could see the steam even though it was the middle of summer.

((Calm!)) Magnus mindsent to his mate.

The response was a bellow of fury and defiance. Ultra Rodimus was beyond speech. Magnus could feel his rage, his desire to reduce the human woman into a pile of shredded flesh. Messing with Ultra Rodimus was a bad idea at the best of times, but driving him into a state a hair away from a killing rage was suicide. It had only been done once before, and the result had been hundreds dead, thousands more injured, and vast stretches of land left in ruins.

((You have to calm down! You won't be of any help to anyone in this state!))

Ultra Rodimus hissed, sounding like a steam pipe with a leak, or a boiler with a crack in it. But he dropped into a crouch, tensed and ready to move in a split second. Most people would see that move as a sign of surrender, but anyone who'd known Ultra Rodimus for any real length of time knew that he was only getting closer to his target, to be within reach when the time came to strike.

"What do you want?" Magnus snarled, knowing that his mate wasn't going to be capable of speech any time soon.

"I want him." Jennifer indicated Ultra Rodimus with her jaw. "I'm going to finish what I started. And then it will be your turn. Maybe I'll keep these three to ensure that the rest of you cooperate. And once you're dead, I'll get rid of the rest of you murdering alien monsters!" Her eyes flashed with hate.

"If you and your family had evacuated when you'd been told instead of thinking of your stupid pride and staying, you wouldn't have been caught in the crossfire!" Sunstreaker, ever the troublemaker, yelled at her. "If you hadn't been there, then maybe Starscream wouldn't have been tempted to shoot at you! So it was all your own damn fault! You killed your family!"

"Liar!" she shrieked at him.

"You know it's true! Admit it! You talked your family into staying behind and you got them all killed!"

"Shut up!" She swung the gun around to aim at him.

Sparkplug shoved Carly and Daniel toward the Autobots. "Go!"

She ran. Sparkplug turned and leaped at Jennifer. One of her bodyguards got in his way. Sparkplug punched the man, trying to get him out of the way.

Springer put Spike down. Spike ran to his wife and son. She flung herself into his arms and sobbed hysterically into his shoulder. He held her close.

The rest of Jennifer's bodyguards were distracted by the fighting, and that was when the cops made their move. They charged the men, shouting. The bodyguards got themselves sorted out just before the cops reached them, and another fight began.

Sparkplug finally got the thug out of his way. He turned his head, looking for Jennifer. He spotted her just as she turned her attention away from Sunstreaker and back to the fighting that raged around her. He roared in an unconscious imitation of Ultra Rodimus when he was really pissed off and lunged.

Her eyes coldly judged his speed and direction. When she had a clear line of sight on him, she calmly brought up her gun and fired.

The shot stunned the humans into silence. All eyes turned in her direction as Sparkplug Witwicky's shirt began to turn red at a frightening rate. Blood poured from his body, a crimson waterfall. Sparkplug staggered, looked down at himself, gasped, and then collapsed to the ground, a scarlet pool of blood forming around him. Spike screamed.

The sound was drowned out by the scream of pure rage Ultra Rodimus let out. The Autobot Prime's lithe body uncoiled with astonishing speed, considering his size.

Jennifer looked up.

Ultra Rodimus's eyes were no longer green. They were red, as red as Sparkplug's spilled blood, and his face was twisted with hate. He drew back one arm.

In a split second, Jennifer realized that she'd gone too far. Two of her hostages were back in enemy hands, the third was dead, and she no longer had anything to hold Ultra Rodimus at bay. Her hatred was suddenly swept aside by pure terror. She threw down her gun, turned, and ran.

In her youth, before the battle that had killed her family and set her on the path of vengeance, she had been part of her school's track team, one of the best in the county. She had been faster than her teammates. Even though she hadn't trained in years, she was still very fast.

But he was faster.

He hit her before she'd taken more than two steps, putting all of his considerable strength behind the blow. Her spine slammed forward, shattering her ribs and crushing all of her internal organs. Her skull smashed, her eyes bulged nearly all the way out of their sockets, blood poured from her mouth, and all of her limbs were like limp strings, all of her bones reduced to tiny shards. She was killed instantly by the sheer force. Her lifeless corpse was hurled across Metroplex's courtyard and straight into the side of one of the buildings.

The impact sounded like a piece of meat being slammed onto a table, but the results were far worse. She seemed to explode on impact. The force ripped her head half off, and her velocity smashed it like a pumpkin. Blood and brain matter sprayed across the wall for more than twenty feet. Her crushed torso split like an overloaded garbage bag, spewing her internals out of her body cavity. Long loops of intestine clung to the wall like gory silly string. A greyish lump of mauled tissue, a lung, slid slowly down the metal. Blood spread over more than fifty feet of wall.

Then the remains of Jennifer Murdoch, more closely resembling roadkill than anything that had once been human, slid down the wall to lay in a heap of tissue, leaving bits of bone, organs, skin, and blood stuck firmly to the metal.

There was complete silence, broken only by Ultra Rodimus's harsh breathing. His eyes still burned red, the color of rage, glaring with savage intensity at the pitiful remains as if waiting for Jennifer to get up and challenge him again.

The television reporters were frozen in horror. Not a single one could get out a single sound. The cameramen turned their cameras away from the carnage.

Magnus reached out to touch Ultra Rodimus's back, and his mate's blazing eyes snapped to him. The older bot spread his hands, projecting calm. Slowly, Ultra Rodimus's rage began to subside, and he began radiating confusion. Magnus knew that he'd been in a killing rage, a state that caused him to lose track of what was happening around him and react in only one way: violently. It was a state he'd only been in once before, and one he tried to avoid at all costs.

((It's over now,)) Magnus told him softly.

Ultra Rodimus blinked his now green eyes and looked around. He noted the red smear on his hand, the silent crowd, and then the crumpled remains. His eyes went wide with shock. He took one step backward. Then another. Then he turned and fled into the city.

**To be continued...**

Bad moods and keyboards do not mix. This is how the conflict ends, but there are still chapters to come. At least one, maybe more. Read on. And now, the reviewer responses:

**Kakwat: **No, it doesn't. It's a mix of a strange alloy and some organic material. If you want to know more about Ultra Rodimus, his origins are detailed in another of my stories, Transformation. You can find most of the answers there. And no, he'd never give up. "Surrender" is not in his vocabulary.

**Ckret2: **Sorry, but I've had the ending of this story planned for over a month, and I couldn't change it. See? I didn't kill Daniel. And Galvatron is so far off his rocker that he will immediately kill any human he comes across, so your idea wouldn't have gotten very far. And she wouldn't have worked with him anyway. Her plans were to capture and kill every Transformer, no matter the cost. But a good idea anyway.

**LoneGenesis: **No, she's not working for anybody else. She's working for herself. It was her scheme from the start. She thought it up out of a desire to get revenge for the deaths of her family and boyfriend. Her insane plans scared off any potential accomplices.

**Gromia: **Yes, I know you don't like her. If you have a question, ask away. I'll answer if I can.

See you next chapter!


	12. Aftermath

Author's Note: Yes, I know I can be gory. I was in a rotten mood when I wrote the last chapter. I was using my mother's computer at work. She had to take my youngest sister to a doctor's appointment, so I got the computer. I'd just gotten the first page of chapter 11 written when they come back. So I had my mom and my pain in the ass sister hovering around me. My sister talks too much and too loud. So I was in a bad mood. Before you start saying that I have a really twisted mind, I have 2 things to say in my defence: A) it is much safer to take one's anger out on story characters than to shoot off one's mouth or hit things, and B) you're right. 

Disclaimer: Usual disclaimers apply.   
  


**Burning Skies**   
  


**Chapter 12: Aftermath**

There was complete silence from both the Autobots and the humans in the aftermath of Jennifer's death. The Autobots were shocked into silence by Ultra Rodimus's reaction to the killing. The humans were horrified at what Ultra Rodimus had done. None of them had ever thought they'd see an Autobot kill a human. 

Finally, one of the reporters found his voice. "That was... horrible. That woman was just killed in one blow. One of the others has been shot, and soon the Autobot Prime will be on trial for murder." 

"Murder?" Magnus turned around, his optics flaring with anger. "_Murder? _She tortured and nearly killed him! She got what she deserved!" 

"That was cold-blooded murder!" the reporter shouted back. 

Magnus's eyes blazed. "You have no idea what she did to him," he hissed. "Electric shocks, acid, illegal drugs, surgical removal of entire organs and flesh, cutting open his skull and jamming implants into his brain, and more, things that are so horrible he won't speak of them! Now she strutted in here, took Sparkplug, Carly, and Daniel hostage, tried to recapture him so she could continue the torture and then kill him, and killed Sparkplug! She drove him into a killing rage!" 

The human tried to speak, but Magnus didn't give him the chance. 

"This is only the second time he has been like that, and the first time was worse," Magnus snarled. "It is a mindless rage, without any conscious thought. She pushed him too far and she got what was coming to her!" 

The other reporters tried to give their opinions, but Magnus simply raised his voice and shouted them down. He had the bit between his teeth and he wasn't letting go. On national television, so that everyone in the world could watch, he gave the humans a scathing rant that lasted for nearly an hour, not letting even one of them speak. All they could do was listen as Magnus yelled at them, explaining in precise detail why Ultra Rodimus had lost it, telling them things Ultra Rodimus hadn't. 

Kup walked over to Magnus and turned on his internal comlink. "Magnus, Ultra Rodimus didn't look so good when he left, so how about you go find him and I'll yell at the humans." 

Magnus grunted. Without missing a beat, Kup took up the thread of the rant while Magnus turned and ran into the city, using the lifebond to track down his mate. He wasn't too surprised when he found Ultra Rodimus in the quarters they shared. 

Sandstorm opened the door for him. The pacifist's eyes were full of worry and helplessness. He didn't understand what had happened, and there was nothing he could do to help his younger friend. He looked up at Magnus for some clues as to what was wrong. 

"This is something you won't be able to help him with, Sandy," Magnus told him. "You weren't there the last time this happened. Without knowing the exact reason he's like this, there's nothing you can do." 

"Can you?" Sandstorm asked. 

"Yes, I can. Where is he?" 

Sandstorm pointed. Magnus walked into the bedroom and was instantly hit by a wall of garbled emotions. He staggered under the sudden assault. Once he'd gotten his mental feet back under him, he looked around, hoping his mate hadn't camouflaged himself. Even though Magnus knew what to look for, Ultra Rodimus could be next to impossible to spot if he didn't want to be found. Kup had more than once called him a robotic chameleon. 

He shouldn't have worried. 

Ultra Rodimus was curled up in a corner of the bed, shuddering, his stripes a mix of light blue, white, black, and hints of red. The black and red had mixed, so some of his stripes were spotted. Magnus scanned the color pattern and sighed. It was bad. 

Ultra Rodimus's stripes had a language all their own. While he could normally control the color changes, strong emotions caused the changes whether he wanted them to or not. Each color meant something different. 

His normal colors were royal blue and vivid crimson. Pinkish red meant embarrassment, bright red meant anger, dark red meant hate, yellow meant fright (a rare sight, not one Magnus had ever seen on his mate), green meant unease or illness (the saying "green around the gills" was literal), light blue meant sadness, white meant pain, orange was a combination of anger and amusement, or annoyance, depending on the circumstances. And black was despair and/or depression. 

The combination Ultra Rodimus showed meant that he grieved for Sparkplug's death, he had a deep pain inside of him, and that he hated himself. The mix of red and black changed the meaning of both colors, so that red meant anger at himself, and the black meant hate. Combined, they indicated a deep self-hatred. 

Magnus carefully opened the lifebond and touched his mate's mind. Ultra Rodimus's mind was a mess of emotions. There were no words, but Magnus knew him well enough to know what they meant. He sighed. He had his work cut out for him. 

It took hours for him to convince Ultra Rodimus to listen to him, and then it took more than a day to convince him that what had happened hadn't been his fault. Ultra Rodimus denied that, believing that everything was his fault. Magnus had to convince him otherwise. It took a long time, but he managed. 

Ultra Rodimus's eyes, hazed and red, looked up at him. Magnus met his gaze, sending reassurance and love. The younger bot didn't say anything. He turned one arm over. The overhead light picked out the thin line of a scar running across his wrist. It was a reminder of the first time he'd gone into a killing rage. Horrified by what he had done and by the sheer number of innocent lives he had taken, he'd tried to kill himself. The Matrix hadn't clued in fast enough to stop him, but it had managed to prevent him from making more than one shallow cut. Magnus had come as fast as he could. It had taken months of therapy to heal Ultra Rodimus's mental wounds. 

Magnus covered the scar with his palm. "Don't you dare try that again," he whispered fiercely. 

Ultra Rodimus blinked. His thoughts assured Magnus that he wouldn't try to suicide again, but Magnus knew that Ultra Rodimus had considered it. 

The older bot embraced his mate, holding him close. Ultra Rodimus buried his face against his mate's neck. Magnus rested his cheek against soft silver hair, crooning softly. Ultra Rodimus made a choked sound. Then the first tears fell.   
  


**To be continued...**

Now you know how Ultra Rodimus reacted. And this chapter is done. There's only one chapter left in this fic, so keep sending me reviews! And now, the reviewer responses: 

**Kimber: **Interesting concept. Maybe I'll try that sometime. Keep reading! 

**Kakwat: **Now you know how the humans and Ultra Rodimus react. And yes, I can be gory. Read the Author's Note to see why. 

**Rose: **Yes, you should have known. He doesn't run away from anything. 

**LoneGenesis: **Rabbit? Kayleigh, that is a really stupid thing to say to an animal lover. If you'd said "fox", I'd be biting your head off right now. In the future please refrain from mentioning any dead animals. I _really _hate that. And yes, it was messy. Getting hit by a giant robot is not a clean way to die. 

**Gromia: **What was the question? If you don't tell me I'll go nuts trying to figure it out. And yes, I had to be descriptive. Read my Author's Note. Yes, the big guy will get over it. Eventually. 

Until the next and last chapter! 


	13. Saying Goodbye

Author's Note: And here it is: the last chapter of my story. Thank you to all of my readers and reviewers for following this fic. I hope you liked it.

Disclaimers: You already know this.

**Burning Skies**

**Chapter 13: Saying Goodbye**

More than two weeks after Jennifer Murdoch's violent death, Ultra Rodimus finally emerged from his quarters. Magnus was with him, never straying very far away. He was worried about his mate's mental state.

"Well, what did the humans do?" Magnus asked Kup.

The grey bot sighed. "Justifiable homicide and temporary insanity. There won't be any charges against him. But it took a lot of consideration before they reached their verdict. There are a lot of humans who think he should be tried as a murderer, even though they know what that woman did to him. They don't care. All they care about is that he killed a human and he's getting away with it."

Magnus shook his head. "There will always be people like that in the universe."

"Unfortunately."

Spike walked into Medbay and immediately spotted Ultra Rodimus. The young Prime was in his human form, watching as one of the doctors passed a sensor over Falcon. The skrill had never quite recovered from the loss of one of his tentacles, so a bio-mechanical limb had been attached to the stump of the severed tentacle. The replacement was working well, but the doctors still ran tests to make certain of that. No one wanted it to hurt Falcon.

The skrill chirped, or at least made a sound resembling a chirp, as the doctor put the sensor away. Ultra Rodimus grinned at whatever Falcon was saying.

"Falcon is fine," the doctor reported. "The artificial limb is working perfectly."

"Falcon says to tell you that he would've said that if you'd ever bothered to ask," Ultra Rodimus relayed with a grin. "But you never think of asking him, do you?"

"I'm still not quite used to the idea of him being able to speak in your mind," the doctor retorted. "I've never seen a creature like him before, so I often forget that he can speak."

"You'll clue in eventually," the young Prime predicted.

"We'll see." The doctor turned away.

Spike walked over to Ultra Rodimus, looking at the scars on Ultra Rodimus's chest. They were from the terrible wounds that had been inflicted on him, and they would never fade. They were on his robot body as well. First Aid was at a loss about how to explain it. Not even Perceptor could venture a theory about why the scars couldn't be removed from Ultra Rodimus's real form.

"Hey," Spike greeted.

Ultra Rodimus flinched at the sound of his voice, and the muscles in his arms and back visibly tensed. "Oh. Hi."

The human stepped closer, placing his hand on the Autobot's shoulder. "It still bothers you, doesn't it."

"Ask me, I'd say not so much. Ask Magnus, he'll tell you that I often wake up screaming, stricken by terrible nightmares. But it's getting better."

"You miss him a lot, don't you."

Pain filled Ultra Rodimus's emerald eyes. "Every day. He was my friend."

"I don't know if I should be telling you this, but Dad always considered you another son," Spike told him.

Ultra Rodimus stared at him. "Are you serious?!"

"Perfectly. He told me so, a few months ago."

The Autobot leader was speechless.

"Carly and I have a request we'd like to make," Spike said, changing the subject.

"What is it?"

"We'd like you to be one of the pallbearers at the funeral."

Ultra Rodimus looked confused. Spike explained what it meant. The young Prime considered.

"I'll think about it," he finally said.

Spike patted his shoulder and left.

((I think you should,)) Magnus whispered into his mind.

((So do I,)) Falcon agreed.

(I don't even know what to do.)

((From what I understand, there will be a practice before the actual funeral,)) Magnus pointed out.

Ultra Rodimus thought for a long moment. (Then I'll do it.)

The funeral took place on a warm summer day a few days later. Dozens, even hundreds of humans and most of the Autobots attended. Most of the humans had to stand outside and listen via the speakers placed outside the church. The Autobots watched through the windows. Ultra Rodimus, dressed in black with his long hair loose, sat with the Witwickys.

After the service, a long line of vehicles, both normal and Autobots, followed the hearse to the graveyard. They stood through the short service at the graveyard. Then most of the mourners left.

One remained.

Ultra Rodimus shaded his eyes from the sun, staring at the coffin that held the body of his dearest friend. It didn't seem real to him. But he knew it was, knew only too well. He knew that he would never see Sparkplug again, never chat with him about nothing in particular, or just sit in the sun next to him. He was gone, and those days were over.

((He will always live in your memory,)) Falcon reminded him softly.

(I know. But that doesn't make the pain go away.)

((It will never go away,)) Falcon told him. ((I know. Many of my companions were destroyed by the Taelons or in battle. I lost many of my kindred. I know what you are going through. The pain will always be there. You'll just learn to cope with it.))

(I know, Falcon. I know.)

Magnus sent a thought to him. Ultra Rodimus returned it absently. He stood there in silence for a long moment, then whispered an ancient prayer in the Autobot language. The syllables hung in the air for a long moment. Then Ultra Rodimus turned and walked over to where Magnus waited in his vehicle mode.

_Goodbye, Sparkplug. Fare thee well, my friend._

**Fin.**

And that is it for this fic. It was fun to write, even if I did manage to royally creep out some of my reviewers. Only one didn't seem affected by the gory descriptions, but we all knew ckret2 wasn't the most sane of people. And now, the reviewer responses:

**Ckret2: **Yes, she deserved what she got. No, that part about the killing rage is not in the Earth: Final Conflict crossover. I haven't written that fic yet. Just hold your horses!

**Gromia: **Of course it was messy. She was hit with more force than a train running full-tilt into a mountain. Don't expect that kind of death to be clean. And will you please just tell me what the question was? I'm denser than you seem to think I am.

**Rose: **They would've found a way to try him if it hadn't been ruled justifiable homicide. He's off the hook, but there will be a lot of people who aren't too happy about it. And when he's in that state, he tends to work with his bare hands. He never even considers using a gun.

And now, farewell! Until the next fic!


End file.
